Generally, in a molding system employed in a molding machine, such as an injection molding machine, blow molding machine, thermoforming machine, etc. for molding plastic products or the like, a mold is supplied with heat mediums of two kinds having different temperatures for heating and cooling so as to correspond to heating and cooling processes and a molding cycle comprising a series of steps of heating of the mold, injection and pressure holding of a molding material, molding of a product, cooling of the mold and taking-out of the product is repeatedly carried out.
In such a molding system, conventionally, respective steps of the molding cycle including heating of the mold, injection and pressure holding of the molding material, cooling of the mold, etc. are carried out in accordance with previously set timings and it is the present situation that no such a molding cycle that an execution timing of each of the steps can be freely set is seen yet.
In Patent Document 1 below, there are proposed a mold temperature adjusting apparatus and a mold temperature adjusting method in which a temperature detecting sensor of heat medium is provided near a heat medium channel outlet in each of a fixed mold and a movable mold so that controls of flow-in and recovery of steam, mold closing, steam pressure holding, injection, flow-in and recovery of cooling water, etc. are executed by combining an opening time of a steam flow-in change-over valve or cooling water flow-in change-over valve with a temperature of the heat medium in the channel detected by the temperature detecting sensor.
Nevertheless, even in case of this Patent Document 1, it enables no free setting of execution timings of respective steps in the molding cycle of heating of a mold, injection and pressure holding of a molding material, cooling of the mold, etc. Also, in case of the Patent Document 1, as the temperature detecting sensor is provided neither in the fixed mold itself nor in the movable mold itself, it is difficult to accurately detect the mold temperature to thereby carry out an ideal temperature control of the mold.                Patent Document 1: Japanese laid-open patent application 2001-18229        